The Aftermath
by Kamilia07329
Summary: The six of them managed to step out in a despair-ridden world. However, Naegi is still haunted by the sound from the past, an echo of despair surrounds him. He would risk everything just to hear Maizono's voice one last time. -I'm not really good at summaries.- Cover image credits to the original artist! :D


Hiiiiyaaa! I'm back with a new story! I wrote this after seeing a pic of Maizono and Naegi that inspired me to write. So, I think there'll be grammar errors and all so please forgive me. _ Sorry if it's in italics. I enjoyed typing in italics. XD

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Danganronpa, spike does. :P

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_We've managed to solve the murder case._

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_We've managed to catch the culprit._

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_Enoshima Junko. The Super High School Level Model._

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_Also known as The Super High School Level Despair._

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_We've managed to solve the mysteries._

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_We've seen Enoshima Junko go through her own special punishment._

_And left behind the escape switch._

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_Me, Togami, Fukawa, Hagakure, Asahina and Kirigiri all managed to escape and finally stepped out of the Academy. _

_What we can say is that, the world has changed ever since The World's Most Despair-Inducing Incident. Ruins dominated almost everywhere. Who would've thought that the incident just happened a year ago. _

_And the plan to turn Hope Peak's Academy to a shelter for the remaining students._

_In which Junko used to start the mutual killings between ourselves. _

_In hopes of spreading despair..._

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_We set out on a despair-ridden world, in hopes of finding a place where we can build ourselves a home. Hagakure found one solitary spot near Hope Peak's Academy. _

_Togami asked Hagakure to look around and scavenge whatever is left of the rubble that can be of use. _

_Fukawa and Asahina searched around the fallen shops for scraps of food that may be of use to us. _

_Kirigiri and I, since it's just near Hope's Peak Academy, went back inside and retrieved the bodies of our fellow classmates: Maizono, Ikusaba, Kuwata, Fujisaki, Oowada, Ishimaru, Yamada, Ludenberg or Yasuhiro, Oogami and Enoshima and give them proper graves. Since Enoshima's execution, the school's locks have all been turned off, allowing access to all of the rooms of the Academy. I think that we should at least send them off with proper respects since Monokuma immediately cleaned up their bodies after their discovery or execution._

_We both went straight to the bio-lab where it also served as a morgue for all the deceased. The lights signalled that the slots are being used. Kirigiri wasted no time and opened one of them. She removed to check whose body is it and found that it was Fujisaki's body. _

_Chihiro Fujisaki was known as the Super High School Level Programmer. He repaired the laptop from the library and created an artificial intelligence by the name Alter Ego. He was killed by Oowada Mondo. _

_I averted my gaze from Kirigiri and rested my hand on a handle. I guess being the Super High School Level Detective, she's used to interacting with dead bodies, to the point that it doesn't ruin her composure. I, who had been a witness to the murders, can never get used to handling corpses. _

_I slowly pulled and removed the covering from the body. Her body, despite being burned at a stake, retained most of her physical appearance. Yes. I was looking at the burned body of the Super High School Level Gambler, Celestia Ludenberg. Celes was the culprit during the third murders. She concocted a plan to team up with Yamada and dispose of him when the time came. All for the 10 billion yen reward from Monokuma. Monokuma had her executed by being burned at a stake and suddenly, a fire truck came out of nowhere and drove straight to Celes' immobilized body, sending the burning theatre crashing down on her. _

_I gave out a huge sigh and covered her body again. I retrieved a trolley cart from the art room and went back to the bio-lab. Together, Kirigiri and I loaded the bodies onto it enough that we can both carry it back to our shelter. _

_We asked Hagakure and Togami, who reluctantly agreed to come back with us to help haul the remaining bodies from the bio-lab. _

_The three of them went down and it was only me that got left behind. Kirigiri asked me to retrieve the last body since they'll go ahead and start digging graves for them. _

_I gripped the handle and pulled, finding out the identity of the last body._

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_The Super High School Level Idol._

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_The one who had been killed first._

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_Sayaka Maizono. _

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"_I'm an esper... Just kidding. I just have keen intuition."_

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_A memory that suddenly resurfaced from the back of my mind. The distant echo from the past._

_I could still hear her voice and that faint giggle she gives. Her ghostly smile still lingers on my mind. _

_As I gaze on her face... the ghost of a promise came back to haunt me._

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"_I promise. I will get you out."_

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_Those were the words I said to her. Those were the words that assured her that she will get out of the mayhem they were in. Those were the words that I promised to her._

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_My promise to get her out. _

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_But the following day, we found her corpse by my bathroom, soaked in her own blood. A knife is sticking out of her stomach and her message disguised as numbers on her back. _

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_And the person who killed her, Leon Kuwata was executed by Monokuma. _

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_And Kirigiri came to my room back then to assure me that Maizono left that message because she had a hunch that in Maizono's last moments, she had thought of me and how to help me get out._

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_I pounded my fist on the table in which her body lay. There was still a faint trace of dried blood from her clothes. Her hands were clasped tightly above her chest. She looked like she was just sleeping. _

_I slowly reached out and held her hands. Cold as ice. Well what do I expect? Her body was preserved here all this time. _

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_But... seeing her face, it reminded me of how I failed her._

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_I promised her that I'll be there for her._

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_I promised her that I'll protect her._

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_I promised her that I'll get her out._

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_And yet, I have failed her._

_She became the first victim. Even though she was to frame me with her own plan to murder someone, in the end, she had still thought of me. _

_Tears dropped onto her face as I wept. _

_I failed to protect her._

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_I failed to keep her safe._

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_I failed to see through her plan that very night._

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_I had failed to get her out._

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_I pounded my fist again, frustrated with myself. I could the echoing hopelessness from back then coming back to haunt me. _

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'_So this is despair' I had thought to myself. That feeling of hopelessness. That feeling where you couldn't do anything but just stand and watch as reality unfolds before your very eyes. A horrifying reality that my dearest friend is dead._

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_I'll never see her smile again._

_I'll never hear her laughter again._

_I'll never feel her warmth again._

_I'll never feel her presence that encourages me again._

_I'll never get to enjoy my life with her._

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_As I was being consumed by despair, I felt a soft breeze inside the bio-lab that sent chills down to my spine. The bio-lab served as a morgue so it's only natural that it's cold here, in order to preserve something. _

_However, there's something in the breeze that stopped me from my mourning. I looked around, hoping to see Kirigiri back to fetch me but saw no one but myself in the room. _

_It was then that I felt that I wasn't alone in the room. _

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_The soft breeze that faintly smelled like roses. _

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_I felt warmth despite the freezing temperature of the bio-lab. I tried to look around for it but saw nothing but myself. _

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_It was then that I heard a soft whisper._

"_It's gonna be okay."_

"_Maizono-san?"_

_A soft giggle that sounded like bells echoed inside the lab. _

_I opened my mouth but no words escaped from it. I felt something on my shoulder; it's as if someone placed their hand on it. _

_A gentle breeze came up and ruffled my hair slightly. I closed my eyes for a minute, trying to feel the gentle breeze._

_There. _

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_At that moment._

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_I heard her voice. The voice that I thought I'll never hear again._

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"_I love you, Naegi-kun..."_

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_No words left me but I slowly began to smile. I wiped my tears away with the back of my hand. I've finally had gotten to know her true feelings. Thanks to her, I can finally move on from the past and face my future with hope. No more despair._

_I removed the covering on Maizono's body and hoisted her up on my back. I could feel her cold body against my skin and shivered. She's as light as a feather. I kicked the compartment back to its place and slowly made my way out of the bio-lab, closing the door behind me._

_I felt warmth creeping up on me despite carrying a dead body and was inside a cold room for so long. The warmth that brought me back my hope in my moment of despair. The warmth that ever felt familiar to me. _

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_It's like she's guiding me._

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_I met up with Kirigiri and the others back at our place. They've dug out ten graves, nine of them were already covered with a marking that indicates their name. Even Enoshima's body is here with us. Even though she's the mastermind, she was still our classmate, a fellow comrade. _

_I gently laid down Maizono's body on the grave and asked for the shovel to seal it. Kirigiri and the others left me while I was doing this; probably, their way of giving me privacy as I pay my final respects to her._

_And as I finished sealing her grave, I once again felt the gentle breeze from before._

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_I'm not scared. _

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_If she's always watching me from where ever she is, I won't despair again._

_And I will face a world where hope and despair exist, with her by my side._

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"_I love you, too"_

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Reviews would be appreciated! ^_^


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